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Summary

The redesigned 3D printed MHQ2 folding mini quadcopter frame has arrived! Building on the success of the original MHQ frame, we have improved the functionality, durability and stability of this frame. The MHQ2 uses the same arms and hardware from the MHQ with the addition of 4x more 18mm screws and 4x locknuts. The use of 6" props is possible with the new XL arms. Flight compilation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrj7iZE8P1M

I am trying to figure out what parts are needed for the fpv part of the build and was wondering what everyone was using for their fpv gear? Also besides the dominator v3 what other good headset are out there that are not outrageously expensive?

It depends on the flight controller you use. I'm using SP Racing PRO F3, and I fly in Angle Mode. Horizon Mode, and occasionally in Rate mode. When you start learning go from Angle, to Horizon, and then try Rate.

I guess it's not really dead, because you can still print it out and get it working, but Hovership no longer carries the parts to build this quad, so that's why I said dead. If you look down through the comments you will see.

I agree with Maxxgold. Frustrating when the parts list hasn't been updated in years. I like the design of the FireFly much better but it also hasn't been updated in years. Wish someone would list some current parts BoMs and maybe remove the old dead links from their posts.

Hovership looks like it is out of business. I sent several messages which were not returned. Even if they are still in business, you can't buy the hardware kits, which doesn't stop you from building this quad, but it is a little more of a hassle if they have dropped support.

Yeah it was a poor business decision. The sad part is is that the parts are literally just resold there is no more work put into it..
you know what, I might just make frame part kits to fill the gap that hovership made. just maybe

I printed this frame about 3 months ago now, as soon as I found it on thingiverse. I ordered all the parts with guidence from hovership's website and sorced them mainly from Ebay and HobbyKing. The total bill was around 90 pounds excluding a radio for 50 pound and a lipo charger I already had. As well as a GoPro and FPV equipment which I didn't think I needed to start with. As soon as they all arrived, I got to work immediately and I must say that it was surprisingly simple to build with a few basic electronic and soldering skills. Also very fun! Anyway, I was flying that night, and it was a dream come true. I never imagined it would work so well without even tuning of my Naze32 controller and with so little experience. Thanks so much Hovership!

Anyway, now I have been flying for about 6 weeks, I invested in a cheap GoPro and a simple FPV setup. It has really helped me to improve my skills and I can race confidently now and fly high and get some beautiful video. With such great shots, I decided to edit them together and start a youtube channel to post them on. It is called Joester_FPV:

If you are interested in checking out some of my clips, I suggest you take a look. I think you will enjoy them. If you do, please leave a like and subscribe if you can. This would mean loads to me and encourage me to continue making the videos. Thank you and thanks a lot hovership for posting these files. :)

Made one with using the Hovership 3s kit and the 2300 RMP/V motors however When I go to fly it in angle mode I get a lot off oscillation and it jerks when landing. I do not know if it is my PID`s of something else. Using Cleanflight 11.0 because the newer versions were not showing a correct refresh rate. My flight controller is the AfroFlight Naze32 Rev6 Flight Controller (Acro)

i want to make this drone..i have 3d printed all the parts...
but i am new to drones and all and this is my first drone..
can u please suggest me some website to learn how to connect and configure the transmitter and the receiver..
i mean how to get on with flying the drone after i have built it?

This will be my fist quad build and I was wondering how easy this is for an inexperienced person and how easy it is to get used to flying it with control. Also if I build this do I need fpv goggles or can i hook it up to some type of screen. And how fast does it fly?

Printed everything only to discover that the tilt 10 part will not fit into clean lower.... referred to images of your printed parts and realised my clean lower has printed smaller than yours (I'm guessing cura has resized it to fit on the bed but it still says it is 100% scale). What size print bed do you need for this part? I am using an ultimaker.

I was pretty frugal and was able to build most of the quad for $100, (excluding rc system $50 for FS-T6, $100 for quanum fpv (hobbyking), An Eken h9 camera ($50), and Lipos ( I prefer Zippy) and charger (GET a GOOD Charger, between $30-$50)

Search hobbyking, ebay, and amazon. That is where i got my parts. Also, be sure to print this in abs plastic. this is simply a frame. The description has some info on motor sizes, etc. but most parts are interchangeable.

First of all, thanks for sharing!
A lot of links in your Instruction page under http://www.hovership.com/guides doesn't work.
It would be very nice if you could fix this, because i am thinking about building one.

got it! Looks like a great project! I was hoping to buy the hardware kit from hovership as this will be my first drone project but they don't seem to sell the parts anymore. I am also looking to use a raspberry pi zero with this autopilot shield (http://erlerobotics.com/blog/product/pxfmini/) as I'm interested in testing out basic autonomous flying. I have done some research into components and how to spec components but would really appreciate it if you could share a bill of materials for your project so I have a starting point and to see what components you have used :)

I've got a Flashforge creator pro and I can not print the file!!! :-(
Could you please make a slightly smaller version which fits on a 225x145mm buildplate. (I am not interrested in the fly)
I would love to get up and running in race quadrocopter fpv flying.
Thanks for your efforts and please ceep me updated.

I've got a Flashforge creator pro and I can not print the file!!! :-(
Could you please make a slightly smaller version which fits on a 225x145mm buildplate. (I am not interrested in the fly)
I would love to get up and running in race quadrocopter fpv flying.
Thanks for your efforts and please ceep me updated.

In basic terms the difference between 3S and 4S is the voltage of the system. The higher the "S" of your power system, the faster and more powerful your quad will be. As for FPV, I wouldn't recommend getting into it until you really know what you're doing, but if you want then the best place to buy parts is HobbyKing.

ok it depends on how you see it. abs beaks cracks easy if it is thin and it can be crushed using plyers. pla flexes and wont crush under load at the same thickness abs did. but when you start making it thicker different qualities seem to appear it is simply our views about it changed not the material. no flex quality comes from abs that doesn't change how brittle it is thin. im glad you like it. im my designing i've found pla is much stronger for the applications i use it on.

Thanks for your reply.
I have found the problem. I have taken off the slean side in order to keep the damages as low as possible while practicing flying, Then I made the mistake of mounting the naze32 in the wrong direction (without the clean side it is hard to determine the front of the copter ;-( )
This causes the naze to counterreact and totally loses control.
First lesson learned!

I think you're refering to the two similar files? You can see on the end of the 7mm vibe mount one it ends in -shor... that should be the one that was shortened to print on printers that can't fit the length of the regular size one.

hey hovership i made a wooden body (becase my biuld plate is so small) and i was wondering when every thing (including but not limited to) speed controlers, motors, and fpv filter. and i also have no idea were to get a survilzone fpv cam or a gopro.

Where can I get parts to build this? I tried to contact Hovership but didn't received a response. Some of the items on the store seem to be out of stock and I'm not sure when they will be available in the future since I didn't get a reply. So looking for other options to purchase the items I need.

Hi Matt
If you look in their build guide they only use 6 . which kinda looks odd but gives much better access to the flight controller etc.
It also saves a bit of weight but i dont think the couple of grams makes a whole lot of difference.
I just bought a pack of 8 from my local RC shop but am seriously thinking of only using 6 . Certainly in the first few flights when i will want to hook up my lap top to adjust settings etc

I am wondering if the bigfilsing's changes have any aerodynamic/balance-related implications. Does anyone foresee issues with the three changes in this remix?:

1) Removed straight mounting hole in front of the camera mount (where the tie wrap secures the GoPro in the first image of this MHQ2 Thing).
2) Added pair of straight mounting holes near the rear of the STL.
3) Shortened rear area (much like the attached clean-lower_7mm-vibe-mount_short.stl, but shorter still).

Had my maiden flight with my hovership, it is pretty nimble. Now I am trying to add led lights for the front and back, I put on extra jst clips just for things like this. I used the Naze 32 acro, found some great info. online to walk through what to change to make it fly well.
Now, I just have to get used to flying using goggles. I'll post some video later.

I just broke base plate from MHQ1 and thinking of upgrading partly for this one, but apparently vibration dampening holes are not in same place in MHQ1 and MHQ2? So I can't just print new base plate from this and plug in rest upper part from the old one?

Well printed it all out and bought a kit to put on it and nothing.... The thing turns on its bound to my receiver but the motors won't turn. I can connect my battery and receiver direct to one ESC/Motor (bypass flight board) and then i can control one. I did this to calibrate each ESC/Motor. But now I can't get all 4 motors to function at once. I must have some connection incorrect. Any one have a wiring diagram?

Have all 4 escs power connections soldered together of course. Get a good small PDB like the one Steve sells. If you posted info on what kit you're using and what FC and a video, people can definitely help you. PM me those and I'll help you out.

do you mean cut the propellers down from a larger size? printing props is not a good idea. if you need a prop file for size reference, just draw up a circle with the correct diameter. I'm not really sure what you mean buy custom 40mm props could you explain?

40mm, off the top of my head that sounds like 1.8 ish inches? Find props like those used on a Hubsan or other micro quad. You could even get one of those and even use the electronics from it. Printing props likely not a good idea, wouldnt be very strong. Not sure how much info you need, so im wondering; have u built one before?as to not hijack this thread, feel free to PM me with questions!

thanks man! i nearly forgot about the fact of how small the husban is! and no, this will be my first drone to assemble, but im going to use probably a mix of parts from the husban (small circuit boards, ect) and motors & design plans from the mhq2. however, before i go into building a drone, im going to get a Syma X5C 4 Channel 2.4GHz RC Explorers Quad Copter w/ Camera first so i actually know how to fly a drone well. (mostly so i don't crash into trees, terrain, houses, buildings, ect. lol! ) then im going to crowd fund on indiegogo. the drone isnt the only thing indiegogo is for though, it is also going to be for all of my projects!
thanks again,
-jackj106

edit: oh, and for the husban parts should i use the crash kit or find a person selling them for $10 and then tear it apart to use its parts?

edit 2: i suck at acronyms, and dont realy know what pm means. is it private message?

the micro drone is super small, (its a bit over 75mm) so i have to make the propellers small enough so they dont ram into each other. the reason for this is the center is small, like 10mm while the arms that mount the motors are like 5mm wide w/ a 25mm motor mount on the ends of them. my logic for this is i once was flying a airhogs helicopter that had a protecton cage arond it. so, whenever you hit a wall the propeller hits the cage and then the copter did a manual shut-down so no/next to no damage is done.
i think of this as smart code (or if its just a jam that happens, you know what i mean.). so i dont want the person who assembles it to have to go through 55 propellers a day and not even take off. and, i cant find any 40 or 35 mm propellers so i thought it might make sense to print them using tougher plastic.

edit: oh, and once i print the main body i can get a pic of the main part and put it up here (somehow) w/ the mesurements of the distance between motors for ya.

All printed. I'm having a hard time sourcing all of the hardware. Since hovership is out of stock does anyone have suggestions where else to find them? I am starting to find it ridiculous ship in the stuff from 5 different vendors.

Hello,
I'm gonna buy everything I need very soon. There is some questions I have:
For the printer, I choose a Vellement K8400. Do you think it will be okey for this thing ? (Print size: 180x200x190mm)
Next, is PLA okey or ABS would be better ?
Finally, have a GoPro Hero 4 black for the video return (FPV) is okey or it would be better to have a camera dedicated for that?
Thanks in advance :)

ABS is stronger, but PLA is easier to print with. I'd go with ABS since you can do both. The 180x200x190 should be enough for the largest part (emphasis on the should). Fire up your printing software, or Cura, set it to the dimensions of your printer, and then make sure you can fit the largest piece on it (the clean layer; in a diagonal position). Using a GoPro for FPV is debatable, some people like it, and plenty use it on Phantoms and such, however many people find that it can glitch out while outputing video feed, and that it doesn't provide good video for FPV flying. Honestly depends on the person and the flight type I guess.

How it looks with the arms, when I open my to the limit, then it is poossible that they are not always exactly at the same angle . Does it matter if an arm is fixed at 90 ° and the other arm for example at 88° ? Then he would drift away, or not?

Something as small as that should really matter. Just make them tight enough that they wont move on their own, and push them as far out as theyll go. If there is a substantial visible difference in flight, you don't really want that, but its not the end of the world. If I take off and see one arm is bent in a bit, I just fly it back and land it, and adjust. It still flies fine. But you don't want it really. Without gps it is going to drift away no matter what. With gps, your flight controller should compensate anyways to stay in place.

Fantastic Design. I am printing one right now. Can't wait to build and fly. I love how if I break something I can just print a new piece. Also love the added accessories that others have designed for it (fpv camera tilt).

Just wondering. Are you by chance working on a tricopter version of this 250 size.? One that uses the same arms for the front, and a replacable/removable (in case you crash and it breaks you don't have to print an entirely new frame) tilt arm on the back? Would love to have a tri and a quad.

What you should do is put nylon washers between both sides of the swinging screw and the plates, and tighten it to a point at which it takes some force to move the arms in or out, but is still doable. The arms won't shift during flight, but will collapse on a rough landing saving them from breaking. It works very well this way. No need to tighten the arms into a completely locked position in flight, this thing doesn't have enough inertia in flight to shift the arms if they are tightened adequetly. To make sure mine are properly tightened, I try to make them to they require a few times as much space as the weight of the entire quad to fold, but still are foldable without any tools.

Hey Tregie, I have the same printer. I am having a hard time printing the clean bottom plate file, as it seems just a little too big, even at 45 degree rotation. Did you have any issues? My Y axis may be slightly off or something because during the first layer, when it the holes are complete and the shells begin, I get get a skip at the bottom of the y axis that throws the rest of the print off. Any tips? Thanks.

This is my first quad build, although I have flown quite a few RTF quads. I have printed and built everything, but I still need to pick out a flight controller. Everyone seems to have a favorite, but I am very confused/overwhelmed with which one to buy. Can you guys tell what the pros/cons are of each, and/or what you are using for your build? I would like something that is fairly easy to program, and I would love some sort of self leveling/autopilot feature. How would that work? What are my options if I want to set it up to run GPS coordinates in the future? FPV setups? I have never flown FPV, but I can see it being an option once I get the thing flying. I have a Gopro Hero3 Black right now for a cam.

I had used a KK2 on a Tricopter build and now own several Naze32 boards and have them in my huge tricopter, my Hovership and even in one of my scratch built planes for the auto level features and the failsafe modes which are great!

Don't spend hundreds when 28.00 will get it done for your first FC.

I have a Pixhawk complete kit ($500.00 worth of gear) sitting in a bag as i cannot bring myself to add complication to the beautiful simplicity that is the Naze32 boards...

I started off with a kk2.1.5 FC, then upgraded to a Naza M v2. kk2.1.5 board is alright, I think its decent for $25, but in general people like Naze32 for FCs in that price range. Not sure about Naze, but kk does have a self leveling feature that works adequetely.

Naza is really nice. A naza m v2 costs $300=as much as the rest of the quad. BUT, it is more user friendly once you get used to it. You don't adjust the same stuff, and just edit the gains (possible via remote dial in flight for optimum tuning which is NICE), and set it to your setup. With some other gear, either a bluetooth connector or some other stuff you can use waypoints on the M v2, but not the naza lite.

The naza lite is around $175, its literally the exact same hardware as the m V2, but worse software and flight algorithms. Because of this, I bought the Lite, and then hacked the bootloader so I could 'update' it, into now a fully functional/complete M v2. I really like the flight of the Naza, but note I'm not going for anything acrobatic, just okish speeds and stability. The GPS works great, especially if you have the GPS puck seperated from the body on a pole.
Hope that helps!

I searched but I still didn't find the best FPV stuff I can use.
What do you propose ? I have a GoPro but I'm not gonna stream the GoPro.
So, I need camera, Tx + Rx. No matter the price, what stuff do you think is the best? I want max range :D And don't have any power limit (1000mw is okey). Any propositions :) ?

Even a 5.8ghz 250mw can get you a solid portion of a mile if you use it correctly. With directional antennas (antenna tracker on the ground or something) you'd be good to go. There are plenty of good cameras out there, and for all of this I'd reccomend asking around on fpv-forum, I personally use a Fatshark Predator setup, but also: if its your first build, you shouldn't be flying fpv for a while anyways. You want understand your controls and how your quad flies and get good are line of sight before moving to FPV, so give it a while

I already flight with FPV, but with a DJI F550 and the DJI AVL 58.
It's sur that I'll not put directly the FPV and flight without it to begin, but then I just want a good stuff.
What maximum weight do you recommand ? For the Tx

My whole quad weighs around 650g with a 1400mAh battery and no FPV gear, and I get 9ish minutes of flight time with that. With such a small setup, you really can't go for huge range and still have time to fly home, and my 9 minutes is basically hovering and very light flight, so say you go straight forwards, full stick, you can probably go over 3 min away and turn around and fly home safely, which wont be crazy far. Add the weight+power of fpv gear, you can maybe get 3 minutes away, so really a 250mW is plenty. Remember these are my guestimations based on my setup, (Hovership 2300kv motors and 6x4.5 props) so it could be different for you. Ya I'm guessing the AVL is too much weight, I dont know how much it is, but I would try to stay below 50g for the Tx, and under 650-700 over all.

I have 2 ships flying but I'm use to 90 size helis and Im having problems seeing my model when not flying FPV my other problem is I have not cracked drawing in 3D yet has any body made a front LED mount yet so I can just use of the shelf ribbon ? I'd like something like this had ago http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:412598 at scaling but just didn't fit want to work http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:412598

You shouldn't be... what motors are you using? They must be really low. Anyways you can remedy this easily, just fly the arms upside down so the motor mounting part is as high as possible, and if its still hitting, make a circle with the mounting pattern and put in between the motor and arm, like a giant washer to add space. The props shouldn't be too long, be sure they are 5 not 6in props. You could always use the 6in arms... but basically they really shouldn't be hitting, do they only hit in flight or can you see them hit just by moving the props? If only in flight could be flimsy props, and maybe look into nicer ones.

I find my arms breaking easily and wonder if there is anyone who can point me in a remix for a stronger design. Running the 6 inch arm and the breaking point is just where the base for the motor begins and the material is so much thinner.

I've printed in ABS with 80 percent infill, 5% over extrusion and four perimeter. Three solid layers on bottom and top at a layer hight of 2.5mm. They come out rock solid but there seem to be a week spot in the design.

I think reinforcing it would help tremendously. No, I have not tried printing it in PLA, it is my understanding it would flex even less then? Folks out there with carbon frames just seem to replace props, here I've replaced four armes in not many flights but yes, they are quite hard landings but I think there could be some improvement. The rest of the frame holds upp really well

Did you try using the other designs yet? or, when you really need strength you can double them. Print two and use them back to back? That will need some modification...
I would try the PLA first and not print it to rigid. And maybe try landing on a softer surface like grass for the first few times to master the landings.

The other design is only for 5 inch props. Actually running 5's now but I want the option of choice. With hard landings I mean when I crash, often a loop going to close to the ground when batteri is running low or loosing orientation when doing the flips. Thanks for the help anyways, I might do my own design of the arms. I saw another model (not for hovership) where there was an elevated wall around the motor, not so high but I think that could strongly improve the strength.

I'm using the 6 in arms, and havent had any break. I've had a few rough crashes even some where the quad basically soared down from 80ish feet, and haven't had any arms break. Mine are printed in ABS (actually just bought them from the store, my printer doesn't do ABS that well. My thoughts: Are you using a wider motor that puts pressure on the arm? Another possiblity is lack of layer adhesion, what speed+temperature are you printing at (and fan?), Also perhaps your arms are too tight, nice thing is if you have them tight enough that they won't bend randomly, but not any tighter, they collapse on impact which lessens the force on the actual arm, ABS is generally strong enough that having it too stiff should not be a problem, maybe it is because you are more likely to land on the ends of the arms w/out landing gear?, if you're still having trouble, you could always try a stronger filament like PC-ABS, (check out ProtoPasta), that might do the trick!

Thank you for your input logan. You are correct, I don't use any landing gear so it lands on the arms on a crash. The breaks I get are no layer separation, on the contrary they are complete cracks down throughout the arm completely vertical. There is no sign of layer separation even closest to the crack so it looks exactly like a solid block of plastic broke. Unfortunately I haven't saved any pics of the broken arms but I have tried to glue a few of them back with aceton and they seem to be as strong as new just haven't flown with them yet.
The motors I am using are multistar elite 2204 which seem to be a really nice fit. Printing speeds are perimeters at 40mm/s, external perimeters at 70%, infil at 60mm/s, top and bottom at 50mm/s. Temperatures are bet at 110 and filament at 235. Maybe I just have bad luck when flying or my quad is to heavy. Weights just over 650g. How much is yours at?
Trying another material sounds fun, maybe I'll give it a try.

650g shouldn't be too heavy, mine weighs nearly that and lifts at around 54% throttle. Hmm... I wonder if your printer/filament is getting bad layer adhesion... Also, just add some legs, way better to break them than the arms. My printer doesn't handle ABS too well so I eventually just bought some of the parts from the Hovership Store, and the arms have held up fine with some pretty damn hard crashes. Maybe you have too much infil, and the arms don't have a honeycomb fill pattern for strength or something... That doesn't seem likely, but could be a thing... Perhaps they are too rigid, but that doesn't seem like a realistic issue, and if they start flexing too much your flight will suck. How about your 'dirty' layers? Do they flex at all or stay rigid? Maybe they don't absorb enough impact damage? Also, I wondering if printing them from a different slicer would change things. Just a thought, maybe worth a try?

Should I cut the signal wires on 3 of the ESC's? The white wires? I'm using Hovership brand ESC's.

How is everyone laying out their gear, I'm trying to figure out the best way to place the VTx, Battery and Rx..... what about battery on top? or bottom?
if the battery is placed inside the cage, then I can't put the antenna out the back.... let me know what you find works for you.

No! Remove the red from its pin hole, do not cut. The white wire is necessary to send commands to the ESC. Black is ground. Power goes through ESC to flight controller first, (at 5v) and powers it, (usually through motor 1 output or any, depends on which board.) Remove the 5V from its spot (on 3) in the plug by pressing down with a paper clip/knife/small object the little piece of metal that is showing out of one side of the black plug, and then pulling the red wire. Fold this metal piece and the wire back on itself, and secure it electrical tape: this means that if you change boards and need power on all 4 or are swapping the order of ESCs or something along those lines, your not screwed, you just undo the tape and put the piece back into its spot.

My layout goes like this: GoPro mounted in holder, 6ch Rx behind it, and in front of FC board (I would put vTx on top of Rx most likely, and probably mount it on bottom of top. Then flight control board, behind that I have the battery. With this on a kk2.1.5 I had to adjust the throttles to compensate for the battery's extra weight, but for the most part the GoPro and battery help balance eachother out well. I had to make the throttle for the front 2 motors 82% vs 95% on back to balance it well, but now that I have it flies nicely! Downsides to my setup is I cannot fly without GoPro on unless I were to replace it with a 71g weight, but the upside is it balances battery and gopro and keeps the vertical profile of the quad lower. With my setup and some shortened legs I'm working on,(the attached parts are around a cm or two tall) the whole quad is around 3.3 inchess tall! This makes it much easier to find a case that fits it

Thanks for the info... how would you know if your board requires you to remove the 3 red wires though...and is it really necessary?
I'll probably try out the KK2.15 for my first board.

Layout sounds pretty good....do you mount the battery inside the cage, behind the FC? do you find that if you crash head on, the battery smashes into the the FC though?....I was thinking about putting it right ontop maybe, or underneath, then mounting the VTx towards the back, under the top plate.....
As far as camera recording, I'm just pimping the FPV for now so no gopro upfront....with the KK2.15, how do you adjust and configure all these parameters? some of it is on the board and some is through the radio....I'm on a Taranis.

kk2.1.5 board is nice for a first setup, as you can adjust all the settings on screen, and on the go. I put it behind the FC sitting right up to the back edge of the bottom clean layer. I stuck some adhesive velcro to the bottom of the battery and the area on which it sits, to keep it from sliding, and then secure it with a velcro battery strap through the slots in the back. I haven't had any problems with the battery hitting the FC because the velcro keeps it from sliding in or out. If you use the full size legs mounting the battery underneath could be good, but I wouldn't mount it on top as lipo batteries dont handle lots of big impacts (among other things lol) very well, and if you landed hard on the battery a lot, it would die pretty quickly. I'd go back or bottom not top. I have my Rx basically where Hovership has his in the third photo except on the lower clean layer, not hanging from the top. I also just have my antennas in little plastic guards that stick out the top like in the photos. Just thought of this; if you put battery in the back, you could have Rx in back too and then all video gear upfront, weight will balance a bit, less tweaking to do.
Kkboard info: not necessary to remove the other 3 red pins, but Ive heard it makes the ESCs that have the pins plugged in heat up a lot more which is never good. The kkboard only takes power from the motor1 input, but I think it will just take the 5v from the rest and dissapate them or something, basically it keeps power flowing unnecessarilly from 3 ESCs and better to have one hotter ESC in the small space than 4... the settings for adjusting the balance of the quad for your setup are all on the board, but there are radio settings that will probably need to be changed to. For me, the yaw and aileron channels needed to be reversed, as when doing a receiver test on the board it would show that it received left when I went right etc, and the power of the signal(I forget what this is called) could need to be adjusted. For me, in the Rx test, it would show that throttle was full at 120 when I went full t on remote, I adjusted it to around 81% signal on remote so that the board now reads throttle full at 100 when I go full t on remote. This is necessary, not sure why :/ but you dont want the max numbers higher than 105-110 or lower than 95-90. On the remote you have to select which type of aircraft it is, and since mine only has airplanes and helis its just set to standard fixed wing or something. After that theres not much else, just make sure you plug in the Rx channels to the right spots on the kkboard, google which mode you are using and which joystick directions are labeled what. For example for me on mode 2 throttle is ch4 so I connect Rx ch4 to the pins labeled (on bottom) THR on kkboard etc

that's all great info buddy, I appreciate it Logan. Guess it depends on what remote you're using though I bet. Yes, I'll have to do some serious youtube video research when setting up the kk2, just going to do it step by step....

I like the velcro idea, I was thinking the exact same thing! good to know that it works!

I dont think anyone actually said, your missing the base lower, and need 4 arms not two, and if you're ordering it, you might as wel get clean-lower, not the short version. The smaller one is just made for printers that dont have room for the larger one. Hope you havent ordered it already!

I think Hovership discourage us to pay commercially for printing. Instead, we can buy it from them at http://shop.hovership.com/hovership-mhq2/. I find it cheaper and the hardware is a one stop shop. However, why is there no stock???!!

Yaeh that was my first idea, but I don´t live in the US, and shipping plus taxes in my country make thi thing more expensive. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that a relative is coming to my cuntry to oder the kits in the page, but they are not available... and my relative is coming by the end of january.

Me too live in the Far side of the world (Singapore to be specific) but I find it cheaper to buy from them than to pay for print (estimated at 106.832 USD. huh!). That is without the hardware! Even with shipping, hovership is still lower. But shipping time sucks.. I hope there is an option to deliver via FedEx (have not tried to checkout yet)

Besides, it is a way for us to support Hovership for their continued improvement of the craft.

To answer your question. I think the arms should be x4 instead of x2. And you are missing the base lower part.

Im a student and me and my friend are going to be building this quadcopter in school using the 3d printer that our school owns.This seems a little expensive to build but in the end hopefully it will be worth it.I think it looks amazing and it will work well so this should be a fun project cause the there is instructions.If this goes well we are going to move to a smaller quadcopter but this quad definitely has potential.

Can any one recommend some PIDS for a CC3D board? had a search online but not much for MHQ2 line. currently flying with the PIDS for a QUAV250, seams ti fly fine but gets a bit of a wobble every now and again.

I printed 4 MHQ's and several different base plates (bottom board). All of them had way too much flex for average flying. Even when you exceeded the weight of the common G10 or CF frames, it was still too flexible. Since then, I gave up on the MHQ.

Hello! I'm a new TAZ 4 owner. I really look forward making my quadcopter with your design, so I'd like to first thank you for that. Secondly, as I am new to 3D Printing, I wonder how I know that what is being printed is at the correct scale. I have Slic3r (which I have found to be obsolete), Cura (never used), and Simplify3D. If I open your Things in Simplify3d, what else must I do before printing?

Use Cura, it is very nice, and I use it with an Ultimaker 2. In the settings change it to expert mode if you want to and you can change any setting you want, and adjust it to the parameters to your printer. Print everything in ABS, since you have that ability and it is much stronger. Heat the bed to between 70-90 C and have it print in a warmish enclosed area to stop warping. Print the parts at a low speed and low quality. Somewhere between 40 and 90mm/s for reliable quality, at maybe 35mm layer height,(TAZ4 max according to internet). Print one part at a time if your printer cannot handle more well, and be patient with the speed. Figure out whatever kind of file type your printer uses, and export it as that. You may be able to set that in Cura not sure. Then throw on SD card and print. All STLs Ive printed have loaded at correct scale in Cura. If you have a problem with warping still, consider turning off fan in settings. Putting a thinish layer of water washable glue stick on the build plate if its glass/acrylic is good to connect with first layer. If you have issues Cura is great for experimenty with settings.

I have the same printer. Slic3r obselete? I use it for everything. Not sure what you mean. It's pretty simple. Run the file through a program like netfab, orient things correctly and do the necessary repairs if required, then bring into slic3r, set all your settings, save the gcode and then bring into Pronterface and press print.

Just an awesome little frame design and thanks for sharing the files. I have a few questions for you that hopefully you can answer.
I had tried to sell one of these frames, which I printed, on rcgroups.com but was flagged as "copywrighted" material, with one person saying that it was for "non commercial use". What exactly does that mean? Do you have a patent for this design? Am I not able to print these frames for re-sale? Yet I see some people have sold their MHQ2 builds on that website, why would I not be allowed to sell a frame kit? and yet others can sell their build up frames? I thought I'd come straight to the source....

also, I might add, I buy all the parts from the Hovership site, including the hardware kit, so in essence, I'm making you money :)

The files are licensed under the creative commons non-commercial license. This means they are free for personal use. If someone builds a quad and sells it after some period of time that is ok. If you are printing the kits for the purpose of selling them, that is not ok.

I appreciate the reply! :)
Right, but do you hold a utility or design patent? I'm assuming you don't..... In any case, no worries, def not looking to profit from YOUR design but I will def be fabbing something up in CAD on my own.

I had printed 2 of your frames, one for personal use and one I wanted to sell. How do you feel about that? I had ordered parts and hardware from your website, in essence providing you with business. It would be sort of stupid to turn that down? wouldn't it?

Let me know how you guys feel about it, as a designer, I'll respect your decision ofcourse but from a technical standpoint, just letting you know that all these hocus pocus thingiverse licenses mean nothing to a court, if it were to get that far.They're meaningless.

You're right, I probably should have clarified, the CC license does nothing for design and engineering related features of the "thing". It only covers, logo's, brand names, etc. whatever a copyright would cover....is that right?

But I'd be interested in seeing how they were used to hold up a design *Winks, Design IP = intellectual property and copyright are not the same thing. Can you site a case where a CC license was used in court to protect a design from being sold or copied?

I get I'm opening up a can of worms here, but it's not for the fact that I want to try to find "loop hole", it's more just out of curiosity. To me, a CC license doesn't protect a design like a patent would, it can't, and I think a lot of people putting designs up on Thingi might not know this and think they're protected....

The Creative Commons License completely covers his design, yes it does not cover the engineering ideas behind the design, but that is not what it is for. Say Hovership made a design with a revolutionary new way to collapse arms that no one has made before, and he didn't want other people to be able to replicate that feature on their designs, as it would take away one of a kind benefit of having his quad, and make him lose business, he would want to get a patent for it so that other people could not use them. A Creative Commons license is made for works that are publically shared, and generally not primarily commercial based in the first place. Having this license assures that no one will take his work and use it for personal monetary gain on a commercial scale. You say as user SKY8OY on rcgroups that: "I'M NOT "manfucutring" them like the chinese do" and take it to mean that since it is not full scale manufacturing, it is not commercial use. Commercial use, as defined by creative commons is "one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation." This is why printing a frame with intent to sell is a clear violation of the creative commons license, and, as you have commented, and therefore been documented as discussing and showing your awareness of this exact license, you have no possible excuse (such as ignorance) for violating it. You claim on rcgroups.com as user SKY8OY that "I'm sorry but if there is no design patent or utility patent on a design, technically anyone can do whatever they want with it. And if you're trying to convince yourself that Thingiverses little fake protections are going to help you in court, good luck with that." Well, with the amount of documentation proving your full knowledge of the license (and hopefully now knowledge of what it means) on this design, good luck to you upholding that standpoint in court!

1 Everyone needs to take a breath and caaaaaaaaaalm down. Lol...no one is going to go to court.....I will be making my own design, which will be superior and everyone can shut up then...Ughhh...

"Say Hovership made a design with a revolutionary new way to collapse arms that no one has made before, and he didn't want other people to be able to replicate that feature on their designs, as it would take away one of a kind benefit of having his quad, and make him lose business, he would want to get a patent for it so that other people could not use them"...
You do realize what you just wrote in that statement prooves my point to begin with...........and you do realize that Hovership is a business. They sell their "design" and "product" for a profit on their website...
"A Creative Commons license is made for works that are public-ally shared, and generally not primarily commercial based in the first place."
Again, without a patent, this is a null argument, the CC license could give you protection over trade name, logo, things like that......and even then, I doubt it's as solid as a trademark. ....but not the actual design.

I'm just trying to make a point. I'm just saying that, no patent, no protection, it's as simple as that, welcome to the world of business. there's a reason why a patent takes many years and about 30,000+ thousand dollars to procure. It is SOLID legal protection and even then they can be worked around. You DO NOT get the same thing when you sign up to thingiverse for free and click "CC license, share alike", if you think you do, you're stupid. I don't mean to downplay the explosion of all of these so called licenses we are seeing now on open source forums...... But again, the point I'm making, is that without a patent, I can do whatever I want with whatever I find....this is just fact. I'm not sure if you missed my post back on RCG, but I'm a designer, I have many design idea's out there floating around on the web, and I fully understand that the only thing that can protect my designs from being copied, used for commercial purposes etc. is a design or utility patent.....PERIOD. END OF STORY. Do your research. It's bullshit I know, but c'est la vie. I just wish an IP lawyer would chime in here.......not to be rude, but I'm assuming most people on RCgroups area of expertise has to do with soldering wires and not IP law...

But FWIW...chill out people. My design is coming along, and it will be pretty descent....I don't plan to get a patent either, I don't give a shit about CC licenses because they're meaningless, and when I do release the design...NO, I won't bitch and moan about people copying, using or selling my design.....why, because I know that without a patent, I cannot enforce anything!!

First off, I apologize for being a little bit rude, I was having a rough day when I wrote that! Also, even then, I meant to say in -A- court not: in court, meaning I didn't really see it as a valid legal argument, not that I thought you were headed to court! I completely agree and have always understood that a CC license is nowhere close to the same thing nor does it provide the same protection as a patent. And, for the record, as a highschool sophomore, I am not very experienced in IP law OR soldering :), however, I have gained experience from building this marvelous quad, and if you are having any problems/questions with the build and connecting your electronics feel free to PM me! I hope we can simply lay to this topic to rest and move on to building miniquads! I look forward to seeing your design as well, and wish you good luck in your flights. -Logan

What's all this talk about cutting the wires to the ESC's on three of the ESC's, is that required?

It's a great little design, I had trouble with the soldering, got it a little too high so had some trouble fitting the plate that covers the esc's but otherwise, love the way the arms work, a few area's for improvement but all in all, nice light frame design...

Bloke have u thought of approaching the Military with this. Being Ex-Australian Army, I know that on the field as op"s platform it would be a total winner and I am guessing your in the US, you would make a small fortune, ok a LARGE fortune. If you haven't speed the footage up then it would save lives, being sniper qualified and also being able to handle a machine gun off the shoulder, that little pocket rocket would be as hard to hit as a fly at a 1000m... Well done. I am going to have to give this one a build try myself. One suggestion though, if you place HALO or Ring Cowls around the props your lift ratio and speed should increase (maybe) also could make it a very quiet unit.
Your a champ mate...
All the best, Hoo Roo
BJ

throw it into cura and find out, I dont remember the exact amount sorry, but ABS is the way to go. PLA works but you will be replacing parts much more frequently. This is a super sturdy design so it keeps itself from breaking a great deal, but even so ABS is just so much stronger than PLA, if you can print either DEFINITELY do ABS

Really like this design, thinking i'll give it a try. How exactly do the folding arms work? I guess what I'm really wanting to know is if the arms are going to fold back on me mid flight. Do they somehow lock into position?

After inspecting the build guide, I can see it clearly now. The screws in the arms are tightened down which keep them locked in place. I do now have another question. With the 4s setup, what sort of flight times should I expect?

actually, I get around 9 min on 3S with just the flight setup and a gopro(total weight around 500-600g), and there are now 4S motors available for use with the 2-4s esc on his website. I dont totally know how much time you would get compared to 3S but you can probably find out online. If this is your first time, dont do 4S, 3S is not slow at top speeds, and with my setup it has enough thrust to lift at around 54-58% throttle, so it has plenty of extra thrust. 4S on something like this would be if you intend to race with it, or are going for very high speeds and acrobatics.

If it is your first setup, definitely stick with 3S, but if not I would guess between 2 and 4 minutes at 4S. I get 4 or 5 at 3S on 6 in 4.5 props, and yes you just tighten the arms to a point at which they still bend but not so easily, which is very nice for absorbing some shock in chrashes.

Are there any sort of calibration or changing some setting after building the quad? Or is it suppose to work right away after building it? I've never built one before so don't know if there are any other steps after building before I can actually fly it properly.

a litte more info, you'll almost definitely need to edit settings on your flightboard, tuning escs is fast and easy, and mess with your tx. Building it is only half the process as tuning the settings is a bit touch and go depending on what you use, you have to edit bit by bit until you get it right.

Mine flies fine without recalibrating the ESCs however you have to change the settings on your flightboard after connecting it all. Also depending on your board and radio you may have to adjust certain things on one or the other like if your radio sends the signal backwards for your flight board etc

Haha definitely, I did my first flight in a smallish area with plenty of trees=horrible idea. I panicked when it bumped a branch and sent it over 150 feet in the air (cool cus I can see my whole city in the video) then panicked cus it was so high, and had it practically free fall to the point that I couldn't regain control before it crashed. Luckily it landed in soft mud not the asphalt a few feet over. Even that broke a leg and knocked a few bits apart. Definitely print extra legs and arms if you are printing in PLA

You can get a radio system for as low as $60 and batteries for $10 each. The cost always depends on the quality and feature set of components you choose. Same with the FPV gear, you can find a starter package that is cheap but doesn't guarantee amazing range and image quality.

looking back on my previous comment, I have a bit more to say now. CFPLA should be nice and stiff, I dont know how it compares to ABS in strength though...Honestly I wouldnt print any parts in PLA something stiff like CFPLA will be nice a rigid and ABS will be strong, so both are good for the structural integrity, but I had minor bendage issues with a PLA base, and the arms could break on impact, so CFPLA or ABS is just the smart bet. This is not a gimbal carrying quad, you will most likely have to much weight with a gimbal on, but trust me, it flies plenty stable when tuned properly. If you're looking for one specifically for arial photography go bigger like a 450 or something if you want to build it or maybe a phantom 2 if you dont.

I've never used carbon fiber pla before, but Im assuming its stronger than PLA? that will obviously work, and just by the way, I have heard of people printing this in regular PLA, however printing the arms in PLA is risky and will result in many many broken arms. Also, you can print the body in PLA however when I did the arms were able to wiggle vertically as they could bend the body, however this was not a problem at all in ABS so, something of ABS strength+ is probably the safest bet.

Also I have a Venom 1300 mAh battery with 35C continuous discharge, however an online calculator has said that with my current max Amp(estimation, not sure what all the stats of your products+the flightboard+200mW Tx really are) draw of around 50 A I need a battery that can do 38C based on my max Amp. Will my current battery be fine? thanks

1) If I use the DJI AVL 58 for the video transmission, I can use my GoPro as the FPV Camera. Do you think it's a good idea or you would rather take another camera with another video tranmistter? If not, wich stuff will you recommand ?

1) I am going to record with my GoPro and have it as a back up FPV option although I do not intend to use it for FPV for two reasons: Black Editions have been known to cut out mid-flight and GoPros run on a separate battery meaning it is another thing you have to remember to charge and there is the risk of it dying mid-flight, however even if you can see the battery status on your FPV ground screen, having the GoPro run out of juice can cut your flight time short, especially if you cannot fly the quad all the way back to you before losing camera feed... Also same thing as your second question, you probably don't want to use both the AVL 58 and the FY90-Q because they are both pretty heavy for a quad of this size... Using both of those, plus a GoPro, and hopefully another camera, and a reciever, and battery would make this quad really heavy and I do not know the maximum weight this quad can fly well with..
2) I believe the FY90-Q would work, however it weighs around 3.5 times as much as a KK2.1.5 board so it might be worth the $25 to buy a KK board just to cut down on all that weight.
3) I am not sure about this one but do notice that the ESCs sold on Hovership.com are 12A

Hovership - just wondering if you would be willing to share the original files for some of these parts to modify slightly? For example, the motor mounting pattern does not fit my motors well, nor do the slots for the flight controller mounting (I am using a Naza Lite controller). Thanks!

Hi Steve, just wondering if you would be willing to post some info on what flightboard settings you used? I am using a KK2.1.5 but have read that some settings are universal(-ish?). I have a similar setup to yours and while the differences would create the need for me to edit my settings more, settings for a similarly built workable one would be a great place to start from. Thanks!

I have been building this project over the last few weeks and have found the total to be around $600 so far. I have everything I believe I need to get the quad up and running (it will be within a day or two :) I live in California so shipping (which I will include in prices) shouldn't be very different for you. Please note: along with all the parts listed below you need a printer that can do ABS, an extra supply or wire, and a soldering iron and materials: (all pretty obvious, just wanted to make sure you noticed.) Here is a quick list of what I bought, but if you want further information (links, more specific prices, etc) I will be posting a better list possibly with a guide on Thingiverse once I am finished building mine.
Micro Power Distribution Board
4 Motors
4 ESCs
3 Pairs of CW Props
3 Pairs of CCW Props
4xM5 lock nut packs for props (I bought extra just in case)
Ragstrap 3 Pack (Simple Camera Mounting Solution
MHQ2 Hardware Pack
ALL of Above from Hovership website for $225 (Including shipping)
Transmitter+ Receiver Combo (Turnigy TGY i6) $71 (Including shipping)
KK2.1.5 Flight Board $32 (Including shipping)
Battery Alarm $5
FPV Camera $10 (very LOW quality video feed)
Battery 2 Pack (for my FPV setup you need one as well so 2 as a minimum) $60
Lipo Battery Flame Proof Bags $15
Lipo Battery Charger $30
FPV screen $28
FPV Transmitter+Receiver $43
3 Prong Power Cables M to M (for Receiver to Flightboard) $5
JST Cables for Powering FPV Transmitter and Camera $5
M2 Bullet Banana Plugs (Not necessary but they make swapping parts out MUCH easier) $6
Zip Ties (You need 30-40+ due to inevitable mistakes) $7
This list I just made is not specific so if you are completely new to this I would recommend waiting a few days until I post a more detailed list with explanations on which types of things you need to buy etc) When I upload my make of this I will include a guide and links to (hopefully) all of the purchases necessary for this project!) Amazon, HobbyKing, Banggood, and Hovership.com were the only sites I needed to use to buy all of this. Also it is recommended to record video with a different camera than the one you use for FPV so I am going to use a GoPro for recording. I hope this helps, and best of luck!

Has anyone put a gimbal on one of these? I have seen a TBS discovery with a gimbal on the front - wondering if a similar setup could be accomplished here. My motors are on order, and all parts are printed out. Received my hardware kit from the Hovership store - great service and fast shipping!

Also, to those who have had problems below, I have a Flashforge Creator Pro - no issues printing using either Makerbot OR ReplicatorG slicing programs.

I think it may be possible to hook a gimbal up to the flight board, however I am not sure as I have not explored the possibility much at the moment. Also adding a gimbal for a camera such as a GoPro or Mobius may bring it too close to the weight limit...

You could go single axis with a servo, and run it off the fc. I'll try it and let you know. I have the printed parts to pull it off already. I never thought of using the multiwii to control it, but I guess it's possible.

I ended up using a micro servo, and a pivot plate, like many others on thingiverse. I controlled it using the fc's built in leveling function. It works great. added about 30 grams, but it was worth it.

I'd love to hear your results, do you think its possible to use two micro servos? On the kk2.1.5 board that I am using I believe that is an option. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9-xhp8RPG4 this video seems to pull it off but I am not sure if this quad could handle the weight.

I seem to have problems putting this together from almost the beginning. I bought your ESCs and when I tried to zip tie them and install the clean layer, it wouldn't fit. The vinyl covering them seems too thick and the capacitor is bigger than what the pictures show. I can't install the clean layer with these.

The escs go between the 2 base plates not between the base and clean layer. You need to place the escs so that the capacitor sits in the square cutout of the upper base plate. It is a tight fit but it works.

Sorry about that, didn't mean to call it clean layer. I've been looking at the instructions and had that stuck in my head. I'll have to try moving the ESCs around and see how I can fit them. They do look different in the instruction pictures though (in the pictures the capacitor looks smaller and is also bent against the board rather than sticking out).

Is there an email where I could directly contact you with pictures of what I talk about in the previous comment? I got back to where I have my equipment but after looking at it I still don't see how this would fit with the purchased ESCs.

What I have seen on the naze32 is that it requires 5v input. How did you power the board because in the instructions there is no wires going to battery inputs. Also, you didn't show how the receiver is hooked up to the naz32.

The naze gets power from your ESCs. Almost all ESCs have what is called a BEC which in traditional RC passes 5v to a receiver. But with multi-rotors the 5v goes to the flight controller first and the flight controller passes the power through to the receiver.

So would I need to just plug in one of the esc's with the power and ground wire and I pull out the others leaving just the signal wire, or can I plug completely plug in each esc into the naze? One last thing, will the turnigy TGY-i6 tx and the rx it comes with work on the naze33? Because I read that the naze uses PPM and I can't find where it says if the tx/rx supports PPM. If I were to just use the turnigy TGY-i6 with the rx with the naze32 would it work fine?

Best practice is to pull the 5v (red) wire out of 3 of the ESCs. It will work with all 4 connected but it could potentially cause problems with the BECs fighting each other. They will also get warmer when the BEC is in use so might as well let 3 of them stay cooler.

The Naze can but doesn't have to use PPM. PPM is actually disabled with the default settings, PWM (one cable per channel) is default.

Steve I pulled the red wire out of the plugs on 3 of the ESCS and have the only one with it still intact connected to the 1 spot to plug in like its supposed to but when I turn on the quad it only powers the first motor not all of them. Any idea why this is happening?

Replicator 2 here. I am running a print of the same part using simplify3d with the healing enabled to confirm your experience.

Depending on the modeler you are using you should have a solid inspector that shows manifold issues and you can repair them before exporting. Then everyone will be able to print these consistently without buying special slicers.

Warping issues? Apparently Elmer's school (purple) or 3M Scotch permanent glue sticks applied to a cold bed prior to heating are the latest trick to help ABS stick to the bed. I have some Scotch glue sticks ordered, hoping they work. I think people apply a thin layer onto bare glass, no tape. Also make sure your bed is absolutely level when the machine is at operating temperature.

For what its worth, I have a printrbot simple metal, and was frustrated with constant peeling issues when printing w/ pla. I have experimented with a glass cutting board mounted to the top of the metal printbed and have had not pealing issues regardless of printing straight to glass, glass w/ elmers glue stick, or glass w/ blue painters tape. I think the key is most print beds are not as flat as we are led to believe.

I have crashed this frame A LOT. Sometimes parts break in high speed impacts with brick/cement/asphalt but for the most part it can take a decent beating and keep flying with only needing to replace props.

Steve I'm considering getting the Nana 5.8 Ghz 25mW transmitter from your website but I am having trouble finding a place to buy the JST-ZH connector. Does it come with the transmitter or do I need to buy it at an electronics store? On another note, since I won't be getting any fatshark gear, what setup would you reccomend for recieving the fpv? thanks, -Logan

Thats alright, however, since the cable that connects to the camera is bare, where can I buy the JST-ZH(I think thats right?) piece needed to connect the bare wires to a camera cable? I've been looking around and none of the usual sites seem to carry them...

I soldered all my leads together, and used one to power a power filter from rangevideo. The filter works for 5-12v, and leaves everything clean. No need for a distribution board on this setup imho. Hobbyking and RV both sell microcopter harnesses now.

I think my small PDB works well for this job. It is quite small and makes it easier to add or remove leads very easily. I used to solder all the leads together on other builds but I think a PDB makes the build much quicker without a lot of extra connectors.

for sure for most. I dont really use connectors for the extra weight, but I'm a little anal when it comes to that sort of thing. Does your pdb clean up the power to the transmitter? Always looking for something to make it cleaner, and or lighter.

I have printed the clean upper in PLA and have a quite flexible plate. (.2mm layer height, 40% infill, 3 shells). Does this become more rigid when connected to the other plates? Or is my printer just making the whole plate too thin?

Can the uppermost piece still be screwed in with the same hardware if it its 3mm instead of the normal 2mm thick? I have some strong 3mm materials and may want to lasercut it because its flat and will be much faster.

When will you have the micro power distribution boards available? I want to order a hardware kit - but want to get the power distribution board at the same time. Also - what are those red "antenna" looking things on your quads? ARE they antennas for something?

Naze32 works, KK2.1.5 is another option(that has a screen and buttons for easy use)
This remote comes with a reciever
hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/62710Turnigy_TGY_i6_AFHDS_Transmitter_and_6CH_Receiver_Mode2.html

and another option( for an experience flyers ) is the FrSky Taranis.
I am no expert at quadcopters and am basically quoting Hovership on all of this info, so it is very credible. Best of luck!

do you think it would be safe to print parts such as the clean layer or flight deck out of PLA? The arms basically must be out of ABS due to crashing but do you think a PLA flight deck and/or clean clean would be sturdy enough(high% infil maybe?)

I think the battery level alarm is a necessity and it would be really helpful to install one because on a fpv quad, you don't want to be out of range and have the battery die at upwards of 100 feet or even over water.

I am trying to print this, but when I try to load the "clean lower" to replicatorG it shows it overlapping on the ends by mere millimeters. I have the Flashforge Creator Pro with a build plate of 230x150 (supposed to be the same as a replicator I believe...). Will it fit, or is it just slightly too large?

Well, I am wildly impatient, so I decided to just try it and see what happened! For anybody who is wondering, it does fit, and by fit I mean that the ends of it are LITERALLY on the edge of the plate - but it DOES fit!

Multiwii based boards are nice and there are many options available. The best part about multiwii is Bluetooth based tuning using your phone or tablet. I would suggest you take a look at readytoflyquads.com.

I printed arm-v3-M3_Motors.STL and the problem I have is with the 12mm distance (two of them). The minimum distance between the slots I've measured in the printed arm is 13mm, so no possible to fit the 12mm distance holes. I have no problem with the 16mm ones.

What GoPro version do you have? My Original HD Hero is just a little too wide for the space but fits with a little persuasion. I'll bet the Hero1 and Hero2 are just a little wider than the newer versions

possibly,, what are the dimensions supposed to be so i can verify my printer didn't go whack, or my software settings aren't weird.. I'm using a go pro 4... I've printed all the pieces so if its small its all small :) thanks

Looks awesome! Started printing mine yesterday. Only suggestion I would have would be to split the camera tray into two pieces as I couldn't get it to fit on a 200x200mm build tray. I did find a remix of someone who did just that though. Looking forward to my first 250 class quad!

I'm a little late to the conversation on this lol, but I think a bunch of people are having the same problem. Make sure your skirt is turned off when trying to build something close to your max bed size. That fixed the issue for me right away.

I tried that yes, my slicer didn't like it... Printing the lower base right now and it fits. I suspect it's because I print a raft first and there isn't enough room for that. As I said I found a workaround and I know someone with a bigger printer if I can't get it to fit on mine. I actually have just under 200mm on my printer as well due to how my cooling fans are set up. Thanks for the suggestion though. Can't wait to fly it!

If it's possible to control it with a smart phone, I guess you could do it with an iPhone too... Sorry, couldn't help myself. There are a lot of android controlled copters on instructables. It will however be a very tight fit to get all the hardware you need to have fun. You can find some nice transmitter receiver combos on ebay and amazon. Don't fall for a futaba setup on a copter this small. Don't get me wrong, I own one, and it is nice, but I bought it to fly my big copter very far away. A nice turnigy radio/receiver is a good middle of the line radio. Get at least an 8 channel radio, so you can control lights or other accessories if you want. I've flown my hovership v1 with APM, CC3d, and Naza-m lite. You get exactly what you'd expect from all three. I'm partial to cc3d, because I like to feel like I'm flying my copter. Naza is great for aerial photography, but for that, you want a bigger copter imho. APM is close to my heart, because I'm a nerd, and anything that acts like a robot is cool. APM was a little heavy with all the goodies attached, but still performed well with my setup.

Looks good! Looks like maybe throttle_mid settings might be a little off. If you get those set right for your quad, It should be like a rock. You have to set it based on payload and setup after checking the logs. It's often overlooked, and it almost made me quit APM alltogether. The only othe thing you can do on these little quads is to insulate the baro sensor as much as possible from the propwash. Once all that is done, then autotune, very carefully.

yeah it was hovering at 35% throttle with a 1300mA battery. I did not know it was important for stability other than really annoying when switching between modes. Unfortunately for autotune I have a bricked baro so that wont be possible =(.
After tuning a little on the P value it got more stable but slow oscillations appeared. Will check the D and I values a little as well to se if I can fix that. One weird thing that happened is when giving lots of throttle at once it oscillated a lot and even flipped over a few times. Here is a video of that. It showed more with more load, in the video I'm flying with 3000mA battery.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifvH9njZxFU&feature=youtu.be

Hi, I am sorry if I missed but I checked both instructions and guides in the official website and couldn't find what you use as a transmitter/receiver. I mean, how do you control it? If I want to program it to control with my iPhone, is that possible?

A friend and I calculated it would cost something a little under $450 to get him (a complete beginner) in the air. This includes: Hovership's ESCs, Motors, and hardware as well as a Flip 2.5 controller, Spektrum DX6i radio system, batteries and a charger. Naturally your results and preferences will vary but it's a ballpark to reference.

Yeah actually we built up a BOM so my friend could start piecing his together, check my "Make" of the MHQ2 I've uploaded a screen shot of it there. Take it all with a grain of salt though, I'm no stranger to RC aircraft but this is my first quad and I haven't finished it yet.

Just wanted to chime in here as well and say Thank You for providing what you have. It looks like a great design and I totally understand why you wouldn't want to share the raw files. Have mine half printed now, guess I need to start shopping for electronics :)

That is pretty sad too. You were offering so much with V1 and some people still wanted to take more from you. Well, I hope you know that we appreciate your work and enjoy your new versions! Sorry there are just enough D-bags in the world to take advantage of anyone doing something cool like you had done.

How many walls are recommended for printing please? I had made the MHQ original but the motor arms always fracture after a period of use at the stress point where the motor pad and the arm come together. I previously used the recommended 80% infill - but had only used 2 shells for the walls. May I ask what infill and shell settings have been used by you please?

This is the only aspect of the MHQ that has prevented me making any practical use of it. The design is superb and I think my problems are purely to do with manufacture :-)

Thanks for the reply. I saw them already but was still unsure, thought maybe from my old setup it would show for those of you who have flown tricopters as well. I finally went with the 2300kV motors and bought both 5 and 6" props with 3S battery.

I have an issue with the model shown in the picture - the radio antenna are pointing the same direction - they are not efficient at all this way (must be mounted 90 degrees to one another, please get a V-mount or something!)

Ha, I know! In that setup, absolutely the antennas aren't efficient but I was keeping it low profile for flying in tight spaces. If you look at the green quad in the pics, I usually use this for my D4R-II and antenna tubes: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:237611

Sorry, my bad. I should type it in the other way. I readed this, and Im now thinking about buing Turnigy Multistar 1704-1900Kv or Sunnysky X2204S X2204 2300KV. How do you think, what would be more suitable? Sorry for such questions, but beginner :(

Have you thought of mounting landing gear on the arms to widen the base? I did a re-topology of the arms of the MHQ1 to make them friendlier for manual editing, in doing so I also created a couple lengths and made a rounder profile of the arm. I'm not sure as to how that affects the aerodynamics, I've never worked with quads, but I've done a good bit with 3d printing and 3d design. So onto the landing gear, I punched a hole through the arms and created some snap fit landing gear to fit through it http://imgur.com/x1MiolI Now the gear could be reduced in size and smoothed to improve airflow, it was a a quick print friendly proof of concept.

Hey thanks for sharing these, been trying to build the MHQ1, having issues with ESC fitment without interfering with the rubber vibration isolators. Would love to try this design since it looks like it has a little more space for the power system. Thanks in advance, can't wait for the files.

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